Longmont mom, volunteer to seek school board seat

Two seats are term-limited; two others up for re-election

By Victoria A.F. CamronLongmont Times-Call

Posted:
06/18/2013 07:12:55 PM MDT

Updated:
06/18/2013 07:14:20 PM MDT

Peairs
(
Greg Lindstrom
)

Running for SVVSD Board of Education

Qualifications: A candidate must be a registered voter, a resident of the school district for at least 12 consecutive months before the election and a resident of the director district in which they are running to represent.

Criminal history: Anyone convicted of committing a sexual offense against a child is prohibited from running for school board.

Nominating process: The nomination petition and intent to be a candidate forms will be available beginning Monday, Aug. 7, from the secretary to the Board of Education at the Educational Services Center, 395 S. Pratt Parkway, Longmont. The office is open from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, with forms available until Aug. 30.

Deadline: Completed nomination petitions and intent to be a candidate forms are due to the secretary of the Board of Education by 3:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 30.

For more information: Contact Barb Steege, secretary to the Board of Education, at 303-682-7292 or steege_barb@svvsd.org.

LONGMONT -- A Longmont mother who has been a longtime volunteer in the St.

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Vrain Valley School District has decided to run for the District F school board seat in November.

Paula Peairs will be running for the seat being vacated by Rod Schmidt, who is prohibited by term-limit laws from running again. District F covers the Skyline High School feeder system and part of the Mead High School feeder area, but all residents of the school district vote for all board members.

Although Peairs' volunteer work in the schools dates back 10 years, she most recently has been involved in Leadership St. Vrain, a district-backed program designed to educate community members about the district's operations, and Grassroots St. Vrain, an education-focused nonprofit that was involved in passing the school district's 2008 and 2012 mill-levy overrides and statewide school finance issues.

Running for school board "seems like the next logical step," Peairs, 47, said Tuesday.

With three boys in St. Vrain schools -- one at Niwot High and two at Trail Ridge Middle School -- Peairs said, "I've been pleased, very pleased, with the education my kids have gotten."

But the district needs to keep looking forward to provide a variety of programs that meet all students' needs, she said.

"I like to see a lot of programming options," Peairs said, adding that she'd like to see orchestra and geometry available at all the district's middle schools, instead of just some of them.

"It's a tricky balance because there are limited resources," she said.

Because of her activism with Grassroots St. Vrain, Peairs is familiar with Colorado's school finance system, and how decisions in Denver affect the St. Vrain school district, she said.

In addition to her involvement in the schools, Peairs has a business background. She earned a bachelor's degree in economics and English from Bucknell University, and an MBA in finance from the University of Connecticut. For 13 years, she worked for Aetna, she said.

Peairs is the first person to announce her candidacy for school board.

In addition to Schmidt, school board director Dori Van Lone, who represents District D, the Erie High School feeder area, is term-limited as well.

Debbie Lammers, who was elected to her first term in 2009, hasn't announced yet whether she will seek re-election. She represents the Niwot High School feeder system, District B.

School board director Joie Siegrist, who was appointed in February 2012 to represent the Lyons High School feeder system as well as northern and western Longmont -- District A -- also must seek election to finish a term that expires in 2015.

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